A Strangling Prison Of Love
by xxx Queen Of Slayers xxx
Summary: When Angelus returns after one night of passion with the woman Angel loves, Buffy has to make a difficult choice, one that could change everything... COMPLETE


**A Strangling Prison Of Love**

_A heads-up to my muse, Medusa Sparrow Descouedres!  
__Song: - Full of Grace – Sarah McLachlan_

* * *

Buffy Summers hung her head, the tears threatening to leave he eyes. She entered through the doorway, and saw Angelus by the statue of the gargoyle, Acathla. She remembered every last word he had ever said about how he loved her, his caresses, his smile, when he had had his soul, and now he was gone and the monster that was in his body had tortured her for the last few months, to the point of breaking her. But she had resisted and now, in the last battle between them, The Powers That Be would determine whether the Slayer would be the victor or… the Monster.

Far away, as Buffy and Angelus battled endlessly, Willow murmured the spell that she had found amongst Jenny Calendar's references. Jenny had been sent as an arbiter for the gypsy tribe that had cursed Angelus, and when she had attempted to win back Angelus's soul, Angelus had gone to the school in her study and killed her, banishing all traces of the spell. But he had missed the Floppy Disk that Willow had found, and now armed with the resources that she needed, Willow attempted the spell, hoping she was on the right track.

Angelus had scared her badly when he had killed her goldfish, and he had proved himself evil time and time again, even punishing Giles by laying the dead form of the person he had loved, Jenny, on Giles's bed.

Willow wanted to be successful, to make everything right again, the way it had been, but it would never go back to being the way it was.

"Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum! Acum!" Willow finished the spell, feeling a tingling feeling spread down to her toes, and closed her eyes, seeing everything that was happening miles away between Angelus and Buffy, as Angelus regained his soul, finally becoming Angel once again.

Buffy raised her sword to kill him, but Angelus gasped and groaned in pain. Buffy saw his eyes glow bright red for an instant and then go back to being dark. He looked up at her, but quickly collapsed to the floor, crying. Buffy stared down at him, but still held her sword raised behind her. Angel rose off the floor, his eyes filled with tears, and looked at Buffy in the eyes.

"Buffy? What's going on?" He was still crying slightly, tear tracks running down his face.

Buffy just looked at him, confused, but not yet ready to lower the sword. She saw Angel look around a bit and get to his feet, feeling puzzled.

"Where are we? I-I don't remember." Angel asked.

Buffy stared in shock. The curse had worked. She lowered her sword.

"Angel?" She whispered softly.

Angel glanced at her wounds, concern on his face. "You're hurt."

Buffy looked down at her wound and felt his gentle touch on her arm. She ignored her cut, and looked back up at him, stepping closer. He hugged her tightly, whispering all the while. "Oh, Buffy… God."

Buffy shook slightly, wondering if it was true, if it really was Angel, and just hugged him back, wordlessly.

"I... I feel like I haven't seen you in months." Angel murmured.

Buffy then realised that it was true. Angel, her Angel, was back. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Oh, my God, everything's so muddled. I..." Angel held her even more closely. "Oh… Oh, Buffy." He sighed deeply and kissed her on the shoulder.

Buffy felt all her emotions coming to the surface, her anger, her love, her hope, and cried into his shoulder, hugging him back. Buffy opened her eyes and stared in shock as Acathla's face contorted, and his brows angled down, his eyes glowing red, and then his mouth opened grotesquely and the swirling vortex to Hell opened, small at first, but growing steadily in size and emanating a deep, red glow. Buffy let go of Angel and looked up into his face, knowing what she had to do but dreading it with all her heart.

"What's happening?" Angel sounded confused.

"Shhhhhh. Don't worry about it." Buffy whispered reassuringly.

She brushed her fingers over his lips and across his cheek, laying her hand on his cheek, and kissed him softly. He returned the kiss, and it became more passionate. Behind them the vortex grew larger continued to get bigger. Buffy broke off the kiss and looked deeply into Angel's eyes.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you." Angel said.

Buffy touched his lips with her fingers again. "Close your eyes." She murmured, nodding reassuringly, and he closed his eyes. Buffy tried hard not to cry, and kissed him again gently. She stepped back, drawing back her sword, and thrust it into his chest. His eyes flashed open in surprise and pain, and a bright light radiated from the sword. She stepped away from him.

Angel reached out to her and looked down at the sword that went completely through him. He looked at her pleadingly, not knowing what was going on. Buffy only stared at the sword protruding from his chest, and slowly stepped further back, her heart shattering into a million pieces.

"Buffy..." Angel looked at her, and then behind him the power of the sword began to swirl into the vortex. Buffy stepped further back, still looking only at the sword in his chest and not into his face.

The vortex grew bigger, as Angel held out his hand to Buffy. The vortex engulfed him, and then disappeared into Acathla's mouth without as much as a spark, taking him with it.

Buffy stared at the stone demon for a long moment, a light of awareness dawning in her eyes as she realized what she had done, what she had lost. She began to sob, her agony bubbling over, and covered her face with her hands, whimpering with pain.

Angel was gone forever and she had killed him.

Buffy watched as her friends all disappeared into the school from behind the tree, and she looked sadly at the school, a light breeze playing with her hair. She turned and walked down the street without once looking back.

Buffy sat on her seat, watching as the yellow bus drove pass her house. She sat immobile, calm, thinking about everything. She knew what she had to do now. She couldn't put everyone in danger even if they wanted to protect her. She had to do what was right, like killing Angel, even though it killed Buffy inside. She watched as the bus came up to the sign on the post, 'Now Leaving Sunnydale:_ come back soon!' _and then the bus drove out of Sunnydale, into the future.

**The winter here is cold and bitter**

**It's chilled us to the bone**

**We haven't seen the sun for weeks**

**Too long, too far from home**

**I feel just like I'm sinking**

**And I claw for solid ground**

**I'm pulled down by the undertow**

**I never thought I could feel so low**

**And, oh, darkness**

**I feel like letting go**

**If all of the strength and all of the courage**

**Come and lift me from this place**

**I know I can love you much better than this**

**Full of grace**

**Where everything we said and did**

**Hurts us all the more**

**It's just that we stayed too long**

**In the same old sickly skin**

**I'm pulled down by the undertow**

**I never thought I could feel so low**

**And, oh, darkness**

**I feel like letting go**

**If all of the strength and all of the courage**

**Come and lift me from this place**

**I know I can love you much better than this**

**Full of grace**

**I know I can love you much better than this**

**It's better this way**


End file.
